


The Theory of Time

by beriallen



Category: Search WWW
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, F/F, Inspired by K-Drama | Korean Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 21:30:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20234683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beriallen/pseuds/beriallen
Summary: A few months after Hyeon picked her sunbae up from the TV station and they drove away to a place with no red lights together, Ga-gyeong has been visiting her apartment. On one of these nights, time becomes irrelevant.





	The Theory of Time

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a few weeks? since the drama ended, and I actually wanted to give up on this story because, the truth is: I got lazy, ha! But then there was a blackout where I had nothing to do, and then this happened. That's why it's quite short, I guess. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

Time is relative. She knows this well; after all, she works for a search engine company.

On the internet, time goes faster and turns slower in the same breath. The name of a corrupt politician could rise to the top of the trending list in a split second, but it might be gone and forgotten in less than a day. And yet his deeds will forever be recorded on this timeless universe called the world wide web. Because on the internet, everything is set in stone. Nothing gets deleted. Everything lasts.

Time moves in a mysterious way too in real life. Three months can feel as long as two years, perhaps even longer. Hyeon knows this well. After all, that's how long Ga-gyeong disappears. That's how long Ga-gyeong leaves.

Before she returns to Hyeon.

Seol Ji-hwan tells her that time moves the slowest in the army.

He's taking another leave, but unlike the previous time, he doesn't try to surprise her. He asks to meet at the restaurant where they had their date just before he enlisted, and even plans to reserve the same table. Hyeon jokes about being embarrassed to go back there because of all the dramatic weeping that happened the last time she went there with him. Nevertheless, she agrees; in some unexplainable way, she already knows what's coming.

Ji-hwan is gentle and generous with his smiles. So when he starts grimacing and talking through gritted teeth about being endlessly exhausted and not being able to think of anything else other than being in the army itself, she realizes she never wants to see him that way again.

"It's okay," she says, softly.

He misunderstands her. "No, no—," he stutters. "I would go to bed and remember I haven't wondered about you, and what you're doing, and I'd feel guilty, and—"

Hyeon reaches across the table to hold his trembling hand. "It's okay," she repeats. "I understand, and you don't have to feel guilty."

Ji-hwan frowns at their hands before glancing up to meet her gaze. "Cha Hyeon-nim," he whispers.

"You don't have to wonder about me anymore," she smiles, hoping with all her might that it's enough to assure him. She watches him as he closes his eyes, gulps the air and looks back at her in one sequence after another, as if he's moving in slow motion. When he releases a long, relieved breath and his face breaks into a familiar grin, she tightens her grip around his hand. "My actor," she continues.

Slowly, Ji-hwan pulls his hand away to place it on top of hers, taking her fingers in his and running his thumb over her knuckles. "And you too," he says afterward. "Think about someone else now."

Hyeon blinks, and Ji-hwan lists his head. She's been told that her big eyes never let her lie.

"Is there someone you're thinking of already?" he asks, then.

And that's when she cries again.

The truth is, a few months after she and Tami picked their sunbae up from the TV station and they drove away to a place with no red lights together, Ga-gyeong has been visiting her apartment. Once every two weeks at first, and then more frequently after that night—

Hyeon still remembers every detail, how Ga-gyeong showed up on her door all of a sudden. She was in a dress and her lips were cherry red. Hyeon followed her as she made her way to the living room. "Sunbae, what happened?" _Who were you with?_ was another question she didn't ask.

Ga-gyeong dropped onto the couch rather unceremoniously, and sighed, "With my ex-husband."

Hyeon shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"And nothing happened," Ga-gyeong proceeded. "We found out we're better off as friends. Now that we're not controlled by our parents anymore, we have nothing in common."

"I'm sorry," Hyeon mumbled from where she stood.

Ga-gyeong looked at her and shrugged. "Don't be. It just hit us both at the same time, the realization," she said. "Jin-woo-ssi said he felt as if an assistant director had hit a slate and the sound woke him up."

That night, Ga-gyeong slept over.

They've been having dinner together at Hyeon's apartment ever since; Tami would join now and then, bringing Park Morgan with her sometimes. With a young boyfriend and a demanding job, Hyeon would think that she doesn't have time for gossiping. Of course Tami enjoys nothing more than to prove her wrong.

"I'm sorry, Hyeon-ah," Ga-gyeong says suddenly after they finish dinner. She's standing with her back facing the glass sliding doors that open to the balcony and the view of Seoul at night. There's a dining table between her and Hyeon, who was just washing her hands in the kitchen sink.

When Hyeon raises her eyebrows, Ga-gyeong elaborates, "I heard about your actor boyfriend from Tami. Or should I say, 'ex-boyfriend'?"

Hyeon rolls her eyes. "Seriously, Bae Tami," she grumbles, which somehow makes Ga-gyeong giggle. Hyeon swears she can hear the other woman muttering something similar to _adorable_ under her breath.

Hyeon bites her lower lip.

"The two of us, single again," Ga-gyeong notes afterward, and wheels around to look outside through the glass doors. She doesn't wait for Hyeon's reply before continuing, "Does this view belong to the bank too, Hyeon-ah?"

"What—"

"What you told me, the first time I was here," she explains. "How nothing in here really belongs to you."

Hyeon watches the back of Ga-gyeong's head turning from right to left as she surveys the city skyline. Standing right there, Ga-gyeong looks almost like a painting Hyeon doesn't have, and perhaps that's why she's compelled to step forward and closer toward the other woman, just like one would when staring at an artwork in a gallery. "I guess so," she answers when she's close enough.

The sound of her voice makes Ga-gyeong jump a little. She must have not heard Hyeon's footsteps approaching her earlier and is now surprised to find her so near suddenly. She offers Hyeon a quick smile before bringing her focus back to the night view. "Is there anything here that belongs to you?"

From the corner of her eye, Hyeon notices Ga-gyeong's hand swaying limply at her side. She wrings her own hands at that; her skin still feels damp and a bit cold.

And then it hits her.

It's exactly like Ga-gyeong's ex-husband mentioned. Like a slate, he said. In her case, a roundhouse kick to her face.

"Sunbae."

It just slips out of her. So easy, yet it takes this long to come out.

Ga-gyeong moves her head just a little in her direction. "Yes?"

"No," Hyeon begins, softly, and then stops. She breathes. "No," she says again, louder this time. Determination weaves around her tone; so much, that Ga-gyeong has to turn toward her, sensing the sudden heaviness in the air.

"I meant it's you," Hyeon resumes, and holds the other woman's gaze. "You can be the only thing here that belongs to me."

The thing about Ga-gyeong is, she has spent all her life creating a mask and hiding behind it that she seems to forget to put it away. Meanwhile, there's Hyeon with her eyes widening even more than usual, wondering what Ga-gyeong would see in them this time.

"If you want to, that is," Hyeon adds, less resolutely than before. Now she's asking herself if Ga-gyeong notices her eyes watering. And maybe Ga-gyeong does, because she leans her head to one side and squints, as if she catches sight of something.

But then the left end of her mouth curves upward, and Hyeon glances down unwittingly, blinking her tears away in the process. She stares at Ga-gyeong as she parts her lips, taking a glimpse at the tip of the other woman's tongue as it touches the back of her lower teeth, and a sound rolls out of her mouth.

Hyeon hears her own name being called.

"Hyeon-ah."

That brings back to her senses. She shakes her head lightly and meets Ga-gyeong's eyes.

"Hyeon-ah," Ga-gyeong says again, and Hyeon detects a subtle amusement in her voice. Just when Hyeon thinks she has heard wrong, Ga-gyeong lets out a chuckle, a short and suppressed one, before it turns into one big laugh that leaves her gasping for air at the end of it.

Hyeon knits her eyebrows. "Sunbae—"

"Hyeon-ah," Ga-gyeong repeats for the third time; a faint hint of laughter still accompanies her speech. "Why do you think Tami told me what she told me? Why do you think I'm here?"

Hyeon's breath catches. Another roundhouse kick— No, a knee strike to her stomach. She closes her eyes, and then opens them. She tells herself to react before Ga-gyeong mistakes her silence for something else—and talks about another woman instead.

"That Bae Tami, really," she sighs, and swallows.

Ga-gyeong just smiles at that. Hyeon still tries to collect her thoughts when she feels a touch on her left hand. She looks down and finds Ga-gyeong's right hand wrapped around it. She lets Ga-gyeong trace the back of her hand, searching for the gaps between her fingers. When she does find them, Ga-gyeong intertwines their fingers together and, holding Hyeon's hand firmly, she brings it to her side, swinging it a little in a space between their thighs.

As Hyeon squeezes the other woman's hand tighter in hers, she knows for sure that time is indeed relative, both on the internet and in real life. Because this? It feels like forever.

This is set in stone. This lasts.

End.


End file.
